Number 2023, cash dollar banknotes and stock market indicators (money, economy, business, finance, inflation, crisis)
The U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 1.3% annual rate from January through March as businesses wary of an economic slowdown trimmed their inventories, the government said Thursday, a slight upgrade from its initial estimate.
The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a 1.1% annual rate last quarter.
The Commerce Department's revised measure of growth in the nation's gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — marked a deceleration from the second half of 2022.
Despite the first-quarter slowdown, consumer spending, which accounts for around 70% of America's economic output, rose at a healthy pace.
With mortgage rates having doubled over the past year, the real estate market has already taken a beating: Investment in housing fell from January through March. In April, sales of existing homes were 23% below their level a year earlier.
Michael Mitchell, senior director of brand at Mailchimp, joins Cheddar News to discuss the launch of Bloom Season and what every BIPOC entrepreneur needs to know to succeed.
Pax Labs, a leading electronic vaporizer company, plans to release its very first cannabis pod venture, of which different strands of cannabis will be available. COO Steven Jung spoke with Cheddar’s Chloe Aiello to talk about the release of the companies own line of 100 percent cannabis pods for use with its vaporizers. "I think this is the direction that most products are going," Jung noted. "If you look at the data, it would actually show you that most consumers are in fact looking for this kind of delivery mechanism in the product itself."
The gaming industry has seen multiple large scales deals this month alone, including Microsoft's megadeal for Activision Blizzard. And, seemingly in response, rival Sony, picked up Bungie for $3.6 billion, a studio once owned by both Microsoft and Activision. The sector is reportedly on track to spend $150 billion on mergers and acquisitions just this year alone, a record-breaking total, according to investment firm Drake Star Partners. Michael Metzger, a partner at the firm specializing in technology, media, and communications, joined Cheddar to discuss the flurry of deals in the gaming space and what might be behind the hot M&A activity.
Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs and TRM Labs, joins Cheddar News to discuss why Facebook is ditching its crypto project and what that means for the space.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter at Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new YouGov poll that looks at how Americans feel about marijuana and politics.
After classic rocker Neil Young demanded removal of his music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation coming from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the platform made the decision to take down Young's songs and continue supporting Rogan with whom they have an exclusive contract. The move touched off a firestorm of controversy, leading to responses from both the streaming service and the podcasting host. Evan Nierman, CEO of Red Banyan Crisis PR, joined Cheddar to break down the latest on the fracas. "I think when [Spotify] initially said, we're not going to be commenting on that, that was a silly move because guess what? They did end up commenting about it, and nine times out of 10, when an organization says they're not going to be issuing a comment, they ultimately do," Nierman noted.
Tesla reported record profits for an electric fourth quarter, but investors still have plenty of questions. The EV giant will not be releasing any new vehicles this year and provided no updates on its Cybertruck. Cheddar News was joined by Ed Butowsky, Chapwood Investments Managing Partner to go over Tesla's quarter and analyze its concerns going forward.
